How will we -- farmers everywhere -- sustain our ability to feed any of us when there are more of us and less of everything else? Sheep, excellent or otherwise, ain't gonna get that job done. Leaders will.

The lead story on the front page of the Jan. 30 Wall Street Journal reported "that a 'significant amount'" of an estimated $1.2 billion in customer money that disappeared when investment bank MF Global Holdings Ltd. collapsed "could have 'vaporized' as a result of chaotic trading ... the week before the company's Oct. 31 bankruptcy filing."

In south Texas, 407 million gallons of water will yield either $200,000 of corn or $2.5 billion of oil and gas. That means there are 12,500 times more reasons to use the water to extract oil and gas than to grow corn and cows.